McCutchen won the National League honor by a surprisingly wide margin Thursday. Cabrera took the AL prize for the second straight year by a comfortable gap over Mike Trout.

McCutchen received 28 of the 30 first-place votes from members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

The 27-year-old with the long, flowing dreadlocks led a baseball revival in Pittsburgh, where the Pirates stopped a record streak of 20 losing seasons and made the playoffs for the first time since 1992.

McCutchen ranked among the NL leaders by hitting .317 with 21 home runs and 84 RBIs. He also scored 97 runs, stole 27 bases and had a .404 on-base percentage.